Second Sight
By Farrukh Dhondy In this essay Farrukh Dhondy gives us an insight into the commissioning process at Channel 4 during the UK’s Black Film Workshop Movement, where he worked in the Independent Film and Video department. I was afforded the privilege of being appointed the Commissioning Editor for Multicultural Programming at Channel 4 from 1984, […]
By Rabz Lansiquot In this essay filmmaker, programmer, curator, and DJ, Rabz Lansiquot reflects on Martina Attille’s Dreaming Rivers, exploring themes of familial connection and forgotten voices in the context of today’s society. The boat in the harbour,Took my sweetheart away,My sweetheart you left me here,Alas alas what am I to do This West Indian […]
One of our roles at the ICO is to celebrate older work that younger audiences might not be familiar with and present it on the big screen as a collective, communal viewing experience. There are many reasons for this unfamiliarity – from the lack of available cinematic formats, to the fact that some histories are […]
Revisiting D. Elmina Davis’s Omega Rising Women of Rastafari (1988) “What does it mean to be Black? What does it mean to be a Black woman? And what does it mean to be a Black Rastafari woman?“ In this essay, curator and academic Aleema Gray contextualises D. Elmina Davis’s film in the context of the […]
In the 1980s, a pivotal decade in British culture and society, a series of radical filmmaking collectives – the UK Black Film Workshop Movement – sprung up against a backdrop of divisive national politics and civil unrest. Our 2020 film tour Second Sight explores the legacy of the Movement, incorporating key titles from the period alongside new […]
